June 19, 2004

Bistate Arts and Sports Corporation, 
a Missouri non-profit, comes back to life.

Also see:  

• Bistate Arts and Sports Committee created in Kansas.

• Bistate Arts and Sports Corporation, a Kansas non-profit, too.

In 2002, directors from the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce formed the Missouri non-profit, Bistate Arts and Sports Corporation.  Known spending, including $39,500 that this non-profit group gave to the Greater Kansas City Chamber PAC, is documented as part of Missouri Money Flowing into Kansas Elections (2002).   $20,000 of this amount was sent directly to Steve Cloud, Kansas RNC National Committeeman, for use with his PAC on the Kansas side.  With both groups contributing to almost the same set of Kansas legislative candidates in the August primary, one could speculate this was organized to get around the contribution limits imposed by Kansas law.

The purpose of this Missouri non-profit in 2002 seems to have been to hide the known contributors of $494,779 in 2002, and $70,054 in 2001 to this group.  Much of what was spent was not documented well in the Form 990s filed with the IRS.  Who will contribute how much to the new 2004 Bistate Arts and Sports Corporation?  Why is this secret?  How does this secrecy help the public good?

When this group initially was incorporated in Feb. 2001, the articles of incorporation indicated "all of the assets" would go to the American Stroke Foundation upon dissolution.  The articles of incorporation were amended and restated in April 2002 so the assets would go to a 501(c) organization upon dissolution.  Why both in 2002 and 2004 were the articles amended/restated before the corporation could have done much?  Is this an attempt to hide something, or obfuscate something about the corporation?  In 2004, one change was from a "public benefit corporation" to a "mutual benefit corporation."  What does this mean?

In 2002 this non-profit applied to the IRS for tax exemption.  The IRS Form 1024 can be found in the documentation in section D of Missouri Money Flowing into Kansas Elections (2002).   When the IRS asked for clarification and a "description of process by which legislation and/or candidates are chosen for support" (see Section E from the link), Jack Craft's letter to the IRS (see Section F from the link) side-stepped the question and indicated the group had not made any political contributions.  However, documentation found at both the Kansas and Missouri Secretaries of State show $39,500 in contributions to the Greater KC Chamber's PAC.  Why doesn't the Bistate Arts and Sports Corporation comply with the IRS' request to review their selection process for spending political money?  Why doesn't the Bistate Arts and Sports Corporation tell the IRS a misleading statement was made in the July 26, 2002 letter sent to them by Jack Craft?

Where is the list of the board of directors for this new corporation?  Did I miss them somewhere on the MO Secretary of State's web site?

Why does the IRS let the directors of the Greater Kansas City Chamber hide who is giving this money used for election purposes?  Why is there any secrecy behind where the money is coming from and where it is going?

With all the secrecy behind the political money flowing from Missouri to Kansas in 2002, will this new 2004 Bistate Corporation, and any secret political money flows originating in Missouri, threaten the integrity of our 2004 JoCo Kansas elections?

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K a n s a s M e a d o w l a r k @ g m a i l . c o m